Dairi villagers intensify efforts to reclaim land
Dairi villagers intensify efforts to reclaim land
JAKARTA (JP): A group of villagers from Dairi regency in North Sumatra continued their campaign yesterday to draw the attention of the central government and military to a land dispute that is turning violent.
The villagers, who have been in town for the past week, split into two groups yesterday to lodge their pleas, one group going to see the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction at the House of Representatives and another to the office of the Coordinating Minister of Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman.
They failed on both attempts.
A spokesman for the ABRI faction told them that all the representatives were engaged at various hearings yesterday. At the office of Soesilo, they were met by one of his aides.
The villagers are from Parbuluan, where a land conflict has been brewing over the past few months and which has erupted into physical violence in recent weeks, forcing many of them to flee for safety.
The dispute is over a 1,300 hectare of communal land, owned by the Bius Lottung Sinaga Situmorang clan, which is being acquired by a private plantation company. The majority of the farmers opposed the sale of the land but a small group apparently cut a deal behind their backs to sell the entire tract.
The Dairi regency office has declared the sale as legal.
The farmers who oppose selling the land said there has been intimidation, involving the local military, to force them to leave their land. Some of the villagers have also been arrested, they said.
Dairi officials have denied any military involvement and said the arrests were made because they were disrupting the peace.
The day was not entirely wasted yesterday for the Parbuluan villagers, whose stay in Jakarta has been supported by a number of non-governmental organizations.
They found sympathetic ears from the faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) at the House and also from a legal aid institution of Golkar, the ruling political group.
"We will send an investigation team to the Dairi regency before the Idul Fitri celebration," Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, a PDI legislator, said during the meeting with the farmers.
The meeting was hastily arranged after the villagers could not meet with the ABRI faction. Soetardjo, who is deputy chairman of Commission II of the House, was accompanied by Sabam Sirait, a senior PDI legislator, in the meeting.
Help
The villagers said they were seeking help to repossess their land. They also asked the faction's help for security and protection against torture and intimidation.
"We don't want compensation, no matter how much the company is willing to pay," Opung Lira Simbolon, one of the delegates, said. "The land has been handed down through generations and we intend to pass it on to our children and grandchildren," she added while crying.
Soetardjo promised that his faction would do all it can to help them get their land back.
Meanwhile Martin Hutabarat, chairman of the Golkar's Legal Aid and Counseling Institute (LPPH), said on a separate occasion that the institute would send a team to help settle the dispute.
"I will lead the team to Dairi in the next two days," Martin was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. "We will do our best to settle the dispute and provide protection and guarantee the villagers' security and safety." he added.
The pledges from LPPH and PDI faction followed a similar promise by the National Commission on Human Rights, made last week to the same villagers, to send a fact finding team to the area.
Commission member Albert Hasibuan will head the team which is scheduled to leave today.
The second group of farmers, who went to Soesilo's office yesterday, managed to present their petition and photographs of their homes that had been demolished by the authorities.
The group was met by Soesilo's assistance Edi Mastara W.(imn)